


This Side of Paradise

by dizzykicks



Series: East of Eden [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Rhealeth, more to come v soon though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-28 23:54:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20434592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzykicks/pseuds/dizzykicks
Summary: For those that wanted an expansion of Rhea and Byleth's reunion scene.Time is unforgiving, especially for immortals. Byleth learns this and more during her time spent at Garreg Mach, in between wrangling students and sneaking kisses with the archbishop.





	This Side of Paradise

**Author's Note:**

> "Well, your faith was strong, but you needed proof  
You saw her bathing on the roof  
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you"

There was something different about the halls and fields of Garreg Mach at night.  
  
The clamor of students hurrying off to class, papers spilling out of their rucksacks behind them and tufts of bedhead hair flopping in gusts of morning air, had retreated behind closed doors. Tables and chairs lay empty, weary from many a cup of tea shared as the sun reached its peak above the campus in the afternoon.  
  
The night, however, was a world all its own.  
  
Byleth took solace in it, understood it well. Drank up the silence and shadows like earl grey and felt it warm in the pit of her belly. It was unassuming, unobtrusive. Life carried on in pockets of firelight here and there, quieting against the slumbering dark that closed in from all around.  
  
She stopped, leaning out against the threshold of her bedroom, and took in a breath. Her eyes burned with fatigue. The events of hours long since past still dug their claws into the muscles along her shoulders. It hadn't been a particularly bad day, but no one had informed her that wrangling a classroom full of nobles and aspiring Fódlanites would exact a similar toll on her as a day spent trudging through the countryside, pockets weighted down with coins exchanged for dirty deeds done without a word.  
  
Caspar had found her lecture on ambush attacks lacking without a demonstration, and had taken it upon himself to fashion a makeshift axe out of a rock and branch he had, of course, brought ready in his bag, along with twine nabbed from Linhardt's pocket. Her knee still throbbed from how she barrelled into a desk trying to separate Hubert from him. Young von Vestra had declared Caspar's roguish acts a threat to Edelgard's well-being, which launched the ever-aspiring Ferdinand into another impromptu measuring contest with von Hresvelg.  
  
Byleth shook her head at the memory of the chaos that had ensued shortly after, rolled her shoulders back, and headed out into the night.

Although the day may have ended for her students hours earlier, a note she had found nestled within a vase of fresh lilies left on her desk charged her and urged her onward. 

* * *

Crickets chirped in patches of brush as she headed past the greenhouse, the edges of the glass building fuzzy against a backdrop of nightfall.

A single candle glowed within, and Linhardt lifted his head from a mound of books near the flowerbeds to offer her a lazy wave. The tip of his mouth edged up into a smile, and before she could return the gesture, he leaned back down into the texts before him.

Byleth was starting to consider bribing the boy with some of Hanneman's rarer articles on crest research to keep him awake and participating in her lessons, but it seemed as though he operated on schedule all his own, as well. She found herself starting to smile.  
  
Up ahead, waves beat steadily into the rocks that lined the lake. Byleth ventured out onto the little bit of dock that jetted out into the water for a moment, gazing into the depths that mirrored the sky so perfectly. Stars peppered the water here and there, and the moonlight leaking down from above gave her locks a hazy green halo along their edges.  
  
How Dorothea had fawned over her new palette, tossing her a cheeky wink.  
  
_"You'll really have your hands full now, Professor! Just imagine all the eyes that'll wander your way now that you look so unique! Reminds me of when Manuela cut her hair for a show, and the papers wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks! Promise you'll tell me if you're free for dinner one night, won't you?"_  
  
Byleth couldn't forget, either, how Edelgard had reacted. A blush bloomed tentatively in the recesses of those porcelain cheeks, but the affection did not fully reach her eyes.  
  
_"There's something oddly familiar about you, my Professor. We've surely never met before, but I feel almost as though...no, I'm letting myself get carried away!"_  
  
She swallowed thickly, a knot forming in the back of her throat.  
  
_Sothis._  
  
Adjusting to the silence that filled the space between her ears now that the long-eared girl that chattered to her had disappeared ever since that fateful day was something Byleth, admittedly, wasn't handling as well as she hoped she could. Sothis' absence only reminded her of how she kneeled, knees raw and matted with grass and blood, clutching at her father and watching the fire fade behind his eyes.   
  
Byleth lifted her head, considering the moon. No voice within her skull to tease her and tell her she was being a dopey, sentimental mute again. No one to firmly clap her on her back with calloused hands and tell her to keep her chin up, as it'd surely help her drown a little slower in the stress of the day. She squeezed her eyes shut, daring herself not to cry for the second time in her life, daring herself not to dwell too much on how any semblance of family she ever had had faded into days past.  
  
Church bells chimed from out over the monastery. The night air stirred.  
  
_Soft hands threading themselves into her hair, that silken voice coaxing her to sleep just a while longer._  
  
The note in Byleth's pocket burned into her side, and without wasting another moment, the young professor wiped at her nose and bolted off.

* * *

"Oh, I do apologize. It's rather unbecoming of me to invite you in like this, but, well...I was just finishing up, and the water's so lovely tonight."  
  
The breathy hitches in Rhea's voice dizzied Byleth's head. Around them, the sauna air clung thick and heavy with moisture. Byleth tried not to let her eyes wander too far downward, but the heavy outlines of Rhea's breasts peeked out from above the water. The archbishop held a towel to chest within the bubbling waters, and considered Byleth from within the depths with eyes that searched her too.  
  
"Please, make yourself at home while I finish up," Rhea said, nodding towards the water's edge. "Seteth mentioned the students were more than a handful today. Go ahead, dip your feet in at the very least, my dear one."  
  
The young professor obliged, stripping her laced leggings off and sinking her feet into the heat of the water once her boots had been placed to the side. The burn of Rhea's gaze as she eased her leggings off rivaled the temperature of the water, and Byleth hoped the woman didn't notice her hands tremble a bit.  
  
"So, do tell me. How was your day?"  
  
"....Hubert almost killed Caspar, and Linhardt slept through the whole thing."  
  
Rhea, her back now resting against the wall of the pool so that she sat beside Byleth, raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Some students learn in different ways, I guess...some need to make their own weapons and act out their own ambushes to understand the techniques," Byleth continued, stirring the water with her feet. "It was impressive, in a way. Calming them down took up the rest of our lesson time, though."  
  
Rhea reached a hand out. She ran a few fingers down Byleth's leg.  
  
"Did he manage to strike you? Your knee is bruised."  
  
"No, that was...that was all me. I ran into a desk that was in the way."  
  
Byleth chewed at the inside of her cheek, embarrassed now. The airy sound of Rhea's giggles soon followed.  
  
"That's not like you. You're surefooted on the battlefield, but now, running into desks?"  
  
"....I guess I've been preoccupied lately."  
  
Silence fell between the two for a moment. Rhea then lifted herself out of the water, wet, mint hair clinging to her back. Byleth couldn't help but run her eyes up and down the pale expanse of it. An odd sensation gripped at the pit of her stomach.  
  
Rhea took her chin within her hand.  
  
"What's wrong, dear one? What's been bothering you? I speak not as the archbishop, but as Rhea. It's just me."  
  
The woman before her stared intently at her, gaze brimming with something in between deep affection and twinges of sorrow. Byleth wanted to look away, but steeled herself.  
  
"My family is gone now. I...need to learn how to properly adjust. How to adapt, and not let it weigh my days down."  
  
Something shifted in Rhea's expression. She ran her thumb across Byleth's lower lip.  
  
"You surely know of our bond, dearest. You've been blessed by the goddess' power, and that," Rhea's voice wavered, "draws us together."  
  
Byleth's thoughts traveled from the streaks of her own green hair that hung in her face, so similar to Rhea's gorgeous tresses, back to the woman before her.  
  
"I'll always look after you. _Always._"  
  
And just like that, the emotions threatening to rip their way out of her chest ever since that evening she had awoken in Rhea's arms finally won. The two leaned close, closer, until their lips met. They kissed, awkwardly, gently, so much need still restrained. Lips smacked for a short while, Byleth's cheeks reddening at the wantonness of the sound that filled the empty sauna.  
  
Rhea eventually pulled back, her breaths heavy and brushing against Byleth's cheeks. She closed her eyes and touched her forehead to Byleth's.  
  
"My dearest one, there is a sorrow that comes with our gift. While our lives will never know a natural end, we must carry the burden of the passage of time. Do not let it weary you." The archbishop's voice hitched. "I should do well to mind my own advice. But you're so strong, so _very _strong."  
  
Rhea kissed her again, a thread of shared saliva connecting them as she drew back. Byleth worried that the woman was crying now, but couldn't get herself to open her eyes.  
  
"And you're never alone."

* * *

Byleth returned to her bedroom, arms shaking.  
  
It had taken everything in her to leave Rhea with a chaste goodnight peck, and a look that held a promise that more would come one day. She closed and locked the door behind her, turning to find a stack of books left on her desk that stuck out like Sylvain in choir practice.  
  
She ran her fingers down aged, cracked spines, and checked a note penned hastily nearby on her own stationary.  
  
_"My brother thinks it's a good idea for you to have these now! :3 I am so very excited for you. Thank you for all that you are, and for being my family ! <3"_  
  
The professor couldn't help but smile and melt a little at the way the note was signed with a quick doodle of a fish. She grabbed the bundle of books, eased into her nightgown, and slipped into bed.  
  
The pages were detailed in a language Byleth had never seen, but somehow, she did not struggle to read through the pages. The symbols flowed together fluently, and filled her mind with stories and anecdotes of a land unknown to her. Unknown, but oddly familiar.

  * _"At the arrival of the final moon in the cycle, all will meet and celebrate the dawning of a new millennium, and the passing of the last. The goddess shall arrive at the peak of the canyon, and announce the name of the new era, with..."_
  * _"...the sharing of blood is commonly used to seal a pact, and must be passed between both parties in proper ceremonial chalices (as shown below). For health purposes, blood may be shared from a healthy Nabatean to the wounded by means of any common vessel. Lovers may offer their blood to each other if one becomes wounded, and in this case only, it is appropriate for one to take directly from the neck. When healing children, the appropriate...."_
  * _"One must not covet. If a dispute arises in which..."_

Byleth soon found herself drifting off to sleep. Rain stirred outside, and eased her thoughts as they wandered through events of the past day, babblings about traditions she struggled to put a relevance to, and hands that she wished would drift past her waist.

* * *

* * *

Byleth ran a hand through her hair and cursed the rain.  
  
It muddied the ground beneath them, and reminded her of the circumstances in which she last awoke for that fateful time, having drifted out of reality for about five years, they claimed.  
  
She braced herself, battalion members bloodied and checking the horizon for the arrival of more of the Empire's wyvern reinforcements.

Years past, they would have rattled the students. She wasn't certain if it was a blessing or a curse that they no longer flinched at the beat of dragon's wings.  
  
Before her, Caspar readied himself. He gripped at his axe, the muscles in his forearms tightening beneath his skin like piano wire - no longer the eager boy that played with makeshift weapons in the back of her classroom, but a man and a soldier now.  
  
Seconds later, he was off with a howl, springing out from behind Hubert.  
  
A crack resounded across the battlefield, and once more, blood leaked over Byleth's soldiers.  
  
Time marched on cruelly, and so must she, for half of her heart lie imprisoned somewhere in Enbarr.

* * *

"I wanted...to walk with you..."  
  
The von Hresvelg line ended in one swift, fell blow.  
  
Blood pooled at Byleth's feet, and the knot in her throat tightened once more at the sight of that horned crown split apart.  
  
Would Ferdinand, sunset locks flowing past his shoulders now, mourn the passing of his old rival? Had he truly won, in the end?  
  
Byleth let her sword fall to her side.  
  
Soft, ever-gentle lips ghosted hers as tears threatened to paint her cheeks.  
  
It seemed her paradise would be built on trampled graves and childhood feuds that aged with time like milk in the sun.

* * *

"Could it be? Is it-really you? How I've dreamed...of this day..."  
  
Byleth steadied her hands as best as she could. Rhea pressed her forehead into her chest, gripping Byleth with frail arms that were lined with cuts and needle gouges. Pointed ears stuck out of mint hair that was no longer adorned in lilies and the splendor of the archbishophood.  
  
Five years had been thoroughly cruel to Rhea, and it threatened to break Byleth like the memory of the choked dragon cry that echoed out as she had fallen off the cliffside broke her.  
  
But, after all time had dealt, nothing could soil the feeling of finally holding Rhea in her arms.  
  
She was _safe. _Clinging on to life as they clutched each other, but she was safe.  
  
The archbishop lifted her head, watering eyes meeting Byleth's.  
  
What she would give to finally make love to the woman, whose lips quivered and yearned for hers, who looked at her like she was the only thing that existed in the universe anymore.  
  
Byleth leaned forward to press an easy, gentle kiss to Rhea's mouth.  
  
Seteth and Flayn's footsteps approached down the hall.

* * *

"I understand your concern, Professor, but I'm afraid you must lower your voice!" Seteth whispered harshly. "Lady Rhea is in no shape to be seen. She is resting as we speak, and I will not allow any visitors."  
  
"Linhardt mentioned seeing Sylvain headed for Flayn's quarters."  
  
"Wh-?!? Do stand guard here, and do not allow _anyone, _under _any _circumstances, to disturb Lady Rhea's rest. I have...matters to attend to, it seems," Seteth's jaw tightened, and he soon disappeared down the hall.  
  
Once his footsteps could no longer be heard, Byleth slipped behind the heavy wood of Rhea's door.  
  
Sunlight crawled through partially drawn curtains, and a mess of green hair wound through the sheets of the four poster bed at the center of the room. Byleth swallowed thickly, steeling herself. If her students could become as bold and brave as they had in the years since she had last taught them, she should be more than able to as well.  
  
As she stepped to the side of the bed, a single, pointed ear wiggled.  
  
"_Mmm?__"_  
  
Unable to raise her head, Rhea opened an eye.  
  
"O-oh, my darling...tell me I'm not dreaming..._not again_..."  
  
Byleth hushed her. The former professor threw caution to the wind, and peeled off all her clothes save for her undergarments. She slipped between the sheets in the spot left next to Rhea, careful not to crush any rogue limb that could be lying within the sheets and blankets.  
  
"You're not dreaming."  
  
Rhea smiled hazily, her eyes glassy.  
  
Byleth cuddled closer, leaned her head to the side, and pulled back her shaggy green locks. Rhea's eyebrows raised as quickly as they possibly could.  
  
"Are you-"  
  
Byleth nudged closer, offering her neck.  
  
"Something I read in a book Flayn left for me, once upon a dream...please, Rhea, before Seteth returns..."  
  
Rhea's pupils dilated. Shakily, she leaned in. Her breath danced against Byleth's skin, and the former professor felt waves of heat shoot down to the spot right between her legs.  
  
She winced, feeling sharp teeth graze her neck. They pressed deeper, the pain heightening in a toe-curling crescendo until, all at once, it stopped. Rhea's teeth sunk in, and Byleth felt her lips caress that spot. She nursed, the tender patch of skin wet now. Byleth shivered, feeling the curve of the archbishop's body pressing so deeply into hers.  
  
Rhea sighed into her neck, lifted her teeth out after a moment, and tried as best she could to drag her tongue across the bite marks.  
  
Byleth turned over, and their eyes met. Rhea's cheeks were flushed, her chest heaving.  
  
"Are you feeling any better? I'm not sure if my blood is as strong as yours, but-"  
  
Byleth was silenced as Rhea's lips crashed into hers. Arms wound their way around her tiny form, and Rhea settled her body on top of hers. They lay this way for what felt like ages, hands roaming and exploring each other as they kissed and necked and tried as best they could to make up for five years lost.  
  
"My...my lover...I have not known a moment as splendid as this," Rhea said, voice weak at the back of her throat.  
  
"No matter what time has in store, I'll always watch over you, Rhea."

**Author's Note:**

> "Remember when I moved in you  
And the holy dove was moving too  
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah"


End file.
